‘The tragic protagonist is always left powerless
in tragediesʼ
‘The tragic protagonist is always left powerless in tragediesʼ
Willy being unable to escape the system.
Tess being powerful to the patriarchal society.
Tess killing Alec showcasing a singular example of her power in a sea of male oppression.
In Aristotleʼs poetics, Aristotle stated that the tragic hero must have some element of power
and involvement in the result of their tragic fate until they are ultimately powerless to stop it
before the very end. This question therefore subverts this idea suggesting that the tragic hero
has no control over their fate or downfall. I will therefore discuss to what extent this is the case
in Death of a Salesman and Tess of DʼUrbervilleʼs.
As Willy enters the play already “tired to death” rubbing his sore palms together muttering
something along the lines of ‘oh boy, oh boyʼ, critics have stated that at this moment he is
already past the point of return with his tragedy beginning where Hamletʼs and Oedipusʼ ended
in terms of powerlessness. Through an anti-capitalist perspective, we are presented with the
quintessential figure of the broken proletariat who has internalised the very system which
oppresses him so that there is no escape from its ideology. Through this Willyʼs very position as
the worker is what leaves him powerless. This can be seen more evidently in the scene in
Howardʼs office where Willy requests to have his work moved from New England to New York
due to the travelling taking a toll on him. While Willy talks to Howard, listening to him,
complimenting him, and even lying to him; “Iʼll get one myself-“, Howardʼs disrespect for Willy
becomes clear. Howard ignores him, talks over him, and even denies his accomplishments;
“Now Willy you never-“. Willy powerlessly lowers his wages from “sixty” to “fifty” to “forty-five”
dollars a week just in order to provide for his family, while Howard continually denies Willy this
because that is the class position (bourgeoise) which he is in. As Willy becomes angry yelling in
a bad metaphor; “thirty-four years I put into this company and now I canʼt pay my insurance,
you canʼt eat the orange and throw the peel away a man is not a piece of fruit”, Howard tells him
to “pull yourself together” and fires him. The translation – be quiet and do not complain. The
system has oppressed Willy and when he even tries to fight back, he belittles himself stating in
a resigned tone, “I was yelling at him” to express his powerlessness. The company squeezed
out all of the good years of Willyʼs life and now that he is old and grey, they abandon him much
like the boss in Kafkaʼs Metamorphosis who runs away fleeing. This very Kafkaesque depiction
of an individualʼs powerlessness in a system which seeks to benefit itself and the rich is what
presents the tragic hero, Willy Lomanʼs, ultimate powerlessness as the worker and cog in a
capitalist system.
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